Rushmore University

Last updated

Rushmore University is an unaccredited institution of higher learning offering online degrees in a variety of business-related fields, exclusively via distance learning. It has been described as a diploma mill, providing illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. [1]

Contents

History

Rushmore was started in 1996 in South Dakota by Michael Cox (professor) (1952–2006), whose credentials included a PhD in accounting from Oklahoma State University and seven years' teaching at the University of Arkansas and Sam Houston State University. [2]

As of June 4, 2006 Rushmore had a mailing address in the Cayman Islands. [3] The Maine Department of Education formerly listed it as having been located in South Dakota and the Cayman Islands. [4] As of August 2012, both the Maine Department of Education and Oregon Office of Degree Authorization identify Rushmore as operating in the Cayman Islands and the U.S. state of Georgia. [5]

Approach

Rushmore offers all of its educational programs solely through distance education. It has no physical campus and has had various mailing addresses, from Wyoming to the Cayman Islands. It currently has a mailing address in South Dakota. Rushmore states that each student can design their own entire curriculum. [6]

Students are encouraged to publish their student papers on the Internet, in conventional journals or magazines, or as self-published books. [6] Editors are employed by the institution to help improve students' written work. [7] Rushmore promotional materials state that the "status as an author" that results from these publications gives its alumni "greater recognition and credibility than [their] competitors". [6]

Lack of accreditation

Formerly Rushmore's promotional material claimed that the conventionally recognized system of educational accreditation in the United States is irrelevant and that Rushmore had instead attained "independent accreditation," as measured solely by the success of its graduates. [8] [9] In the past, Rushmore claimed approval from a variety of agencies, none of them recognized [10] by the United States Department of Education (USDE) or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). [11] The Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization has no evidence that this is an accredited or otherwise acceptable provider of postsecondary education meeting Oregon standards. Oregon employers should consider degrees from this supplier to be substandard unless each degree program is evaluated in detail by an external evaluator acceptable to ODA. [12] The Maine Department of Education and State of Michigan also list Rushmore as non-accredited. [13] The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board also listed Rushmore University as a "fraudulent/substandard institution" as of 18 April 2018. [14] The State of Michigan has listed Rushmore as an unacceptable institution for credentialing for those seeking jobs in the state's Department of Civil Service. [15]

In August 2009, Rushmore announced that it was seeking association with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). This was announced in the August 2009 Rushmore newsletter. [16] The Rushmore June 2012 newsletter reported that in April 2012 Rushmore had obtained CMI Recognised Center status, including approval for several Rushmore programs, though the CMI is not an accrediting organisation. [17]

In Denmark, work done through Rushmore is not acknowledged as PhD work, hence the Danish national state radio channel recently had to retract claims made by a Rushmore graduate presented as having an accredited PhD degree. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

Bronte International University is an unaccredited post-secondary educational institution formerly in South Dakota. It is widely considered to be a diploma mill, operated from an unknown location. Its website offers "fast" degrees for "life experience."

Breyer State University, also called Breyer State University-Alabama, is an unaccredited distance education, for profit, private university that formerly operated in the U.S. states of Idaho and Alabama and now reports a location in Panama. It has been described by The New Republic magazine as a diploma mill that "claimed official-sounding accreditation to attract hundreds of people to obtain degrees". Breyer State University disputes this categorization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bircham International University</span>

Bircham International University is a private, unaccredited institution of distance-learning higher education. It is registered in Spain and the United States (Delaware), and formerly operated from the Bahamas.

Suffield University is an unaccredited internet school specializing in what it calls Life Experience Degrees, issued upon payment, with life experience assessment based on the word of the applicant. Suffield is not accredited by any accreditation body recognized by its country. According to the US Department of Education, unaccredited degrees and credits might not be acceptable to employers or other institutions, and use of degree titles may be restricted or illegal in some jurisdictions.

Belford University was an organization that offered online unaccredited degrees for "life experience". The organization maintained a post office box in Humble, Texas, but its certificates were mailed from the United Arab Emirates. Along with many similar websites, it was owned by the Karachi-based company Axact, the main business of which, according to an investigation by The New York Times, is "to take the centuries-old scam of selling fake academic degrees and turn it into an Internet-era scheme on a global scale". In July 2018, Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh, the CEO of Axact was arrested and sentenced to prison for 20 years for his role in perpetuating this scam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochville University</span>

Rochville University was an online diploma mill offering a "Life Experience Degree, and Certificate Program" without coursework or prior transcript evaluation. The State of Texas classified it as an "illegal supplier of educational credentials" whose degrees may not be used in Texas. The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization lists it as "fake". Its operation is believed to be centered in Pakistan, and its diplomas and degree certificates have been mailed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Along with many similar enterprises, it is owned by the Karachi based company, Axact, whose main business, according to a New York Times investigation, is "to take the centuries-old scam of selling fake academic degrees and turn it into an Internet-era scheme on a global scale".

American Central University (ACU) was an unaccredited distance learning private, for-profit university licensed by the state of Wyoming in 2004. The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization stated that the institution may be run from Malaysia.

Madison University is a non-accredited distance learning college located in Gulfport, Mississippi. The state of Mississippi considers Madison an "unapproved" college. Madison is also listed as an unaccredited and/or substandard institution by four other U.S. states. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Madison University has been referred to as a diploma mill by the state of Oregon.

The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization (ODA) is a unit of the Office of Student Access and Completion, with responsibilities related to maintaining high standards in private higher education institutions in Oregon. ODA administers laws and provides oversight of private colleges and universities offering degree programs in the state, validates individual claims of degrees, enforces the closure of substandard or fraudulent higher education programs in the state, and enforces policy for publicly funded postsecondary programs and locations. It was formerly a unit of the Oregon Student Access Commission (OSAC), which became Oregon Student Assistance Commission prior to January 1, 2012. Its functions moved to the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission as part of the Office of Student Access and Completion in July 2012.

University Degree Program (UDP) is or was an unaccredited consortium of diploma mills run by Americans Jason and Caroline Abraham beginning in the 1990s. In 2004, The Chronicle of Higher Education called UDP the "granddaddy" of diploma mill operations.

The University of NorthWest is an unaccredited degree mill based in the United States.

Accrediting Commission International (ACI), also known as Accrediting Commission International for Schools, Colleges, and Theological Seminaries, possibly associated with International Accrediting Commission (IAC), also known as International Accrediting Commission for Schools, Colleges and Theological Seminaries, is an unrecognized educational accreditation corporation in the United States. It primarily accredits religious schools, including seminaries and Bible colleges, and also offers accreditation to non-U.S. schools that offer business education programs. It is on a 2009 list of accreditation mills in College and University, the journal of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

The American University of London (AUOL) is an online diploma mill. The company disputes the label and instead describes itself as a for-profit unaccredited educational institution offering undergraduate and graduate degrees solely by distance learning. It is a different organization from the American University in London.

Unaccredited institutions of higher education are colleges, trade schools, seminaries, and universities which do not have formal educational accreditation.

Washington International University is an online unaccredited institution of higher education founded in 1994 and currently incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. It describes itself as a "cyberspace university" and a "university without borders", serving clients from around the world online. The university website states that WIU's graduates have come from 112 countries.

Bienville University was an unaccredited institution that was based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was run by Thomas J. Kirk. Bienville University was referred to as a diploma mill or degree mill in a 2003 article by KVBC News 3. It was never recognised or approved by any accreditation agency and was not approved by the US Department of Education nor the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and has been closed by the State of Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diploma mills in the United States</span>

Diploma mills in the United States are organizations that award academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without academic approval by officially recognized educational accrediting bodies or qualified government agencies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit. These degrees are often awarded based on vaguely construed life experience. Some organizations claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved accrediting bodies set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity.

The Management Institute of Canada or Institut Canadien de Management (MIC) is a Canadian professional school based in Montreal, authorized by the government of Quebec. MIC is an unaccredited non-degree business school in Quebec, offering online programs in business administration.

References

  1. ↑ Writer, Heidi Bell Gease, Journal Staff (4 May 2001). "Local 'universities' expelled". Rapid City Journal Media Group.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Rushmore University: In Memoriam
  3. ↑ Contacts, Rushmore University website, archived June 4, 2006
  4. ↑ Maine Department of Education, Non-Accredited Colleges & Universities
  5. ↑ Maine Department of Education, Non-Accredited Colleges & Universities (accessed August 5, 2012)
  6. 1 2 3 Rushmore Programs, Rushmore University website (accessed August 5, 2012)
  7. ↑ Editing Services, Rushmore University website (accessed August 5, 2012)
  8. ↑ Rushmore University: Accreditation (accessed June 20, 2007)
  9. ↑ Joseph Georges, Putting the 'Education' Back Into '.edu', The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 4, 2002. Article states that "until recently" Rushmore's website said "academic accreditors force those schools who seek their approval to work like a McDonald's fast-food franchise."
  10. ↑ John Bear, Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning, Ten Speed Press, 2001
  11. ↑ CHEA website
  12. ↑ Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization, Unaccredited Colleges Archived 2007-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Maine Department of Education, Non-Accredited Colleges & Universities and State of Michigan, Colleges and universities not accredited by an accrediting body of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation
  14. ↑ "Fraudulent substandard institution list 2018". Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Archived from the original on 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  15. ↑ "Degree Mills List | Distance Learning Accreditation | GetEducated". GetEducated | Review, Rate, Rank & Compare Online Colleges & Degrees | GetEducated.
  16. ↑ Rushmore University Worldwide News, v. 6, no. 6, 1 August 2009. Page 12.
  17. ↑ Rushmore University Worldwide News, June 2012
  18. ↑ "P1 Morgen beklager forkert beskrivelse af afhandling". 9 December 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.